Pacific Region conservation district news

California’s forests are choking

CALIFORNIA, El Dorado County RCD — Sickly trees in the Sierra Nevada are coughing up CO2—not storing it…On the scene are Jim Branham, the executive officer of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and Mark Egbert, manager of El Dorado County Resource Conservation District…Carbon science is a relatively new way to understand our relationship with trees.

As recently as 15 years ago, wildfire assessments focused on potential loss of life, property and watersheds, not how much carbon escaped into the sky. As wildfires have increased in both frequency and intensity throughout western North America, however, the field of forestry has shifted to account for CO2.